US strategic drone conducts surveillance over Ukrainian-Russian border and Donbas
On Sunday morning, May 13, the U.S. Air Force RQ-4B-30 Global Hawk conducted a surveillance flight along the Ukrainian-Russian border, as well as along the contact line in the Donbas, as reported by PlaneRadar online service which tracks the movement of the aircraft.
It took off from NATO’s Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy. Around 7:15 am, the drone entered Ukrainian airspace, conducted surveillance of the Kharkiv region, and flew several times along the Ukrainian-Russian border. By 10:18 the aircraft had stopped its flights along the border. At 11:32 it proceeded to fly along the contact line in the Donbas, and at 16:30 the flight was completed.
The U.S. Air Force RQ-4B Global Hawk has already conducted flights along the contact line in the Donbas. It made five such flights in the first half of March.
The RQ-4B Global Hawk is used for surveillance near the occupied DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) and LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic) territories as well as the coast of the occupied Crimea and the Krasnodar Krai. The drone can patrol for 30 hours at an altitude of 18,000 meters.